Our New Car!

FOR OUR DEAR FAMILY,    Sent Thur July 21, 2016 from Antofagasta, Chile 9:30 pm

       Another busy week has come and gone. Our big surprise is that we now have  a car every day and can park it under our building. (see Story 202 & car photo)  This has really made a "huge" difference to us, and to our ability to do missionary work.
       This past week we enjoyed hearing  from Hannah and Dallin, hearing about Ethan and how he was senior patrol leader at a big Scouting event that took place in Palmyra, New York. He had a great experience. Also Jennah was able to go to BYU Idaho and look it over which really helped her. Amy is finally "sort of" settled into their home in Highland, Laura is busy with her new calling as President of the PTA for her children's elementary, Stephanie keeps busy with her garden and it is really producing results, David and Debbie returned from a quick drive trip to Utah for Deb's sister's marriage, Jonathan went to a Scout event with Nathan, Bryan and Lisa are busy tending their "huge" yard, but watering is easier as the "rain" does it. Your Aunt Viola  and Uncle Afton have a great grandson coming to our mission in the near future.  Janeth has been in the hospital with a blood clot in her leg.  We hope all is going better for her now.

       We are so pleased for all of you and everything that all of you are doing with your lives and how you are raising your children. You make us very proud. Well. here are a few stories of what is going on here.

STORY 202  Full Time Out of the Office Missionaries with a Car  We handed our new mission president a list of the families we were working with and then several days later he talked to us and said he wanted us to TRAIN the volunteer couple to do our jobs, and then only come to the office occasionally, but work as much as we can with our investigators. This was then made possible when the only other senior couple left last Thursday and we now can rent that car ($150) a month plus gas for the rest of our mission here. It was really a big surprise and a great blessing at the same time.

Our new mission president told us we only need to work in the office on a limited basis and is giving us the Lawson's car (since they went home) to do missionary proselyting work.  Our car is the one in front.  We are enjoying the freedom

STORY 203  First Appointment Out with the Car  - a Stood Up Appointment but Another Blessing  We had an appointment at 6 PM way to the North on Monday evening July 18th, with the FAMILY we sent a photo of last week that had the "90 year old mother", but when we arrived the lady said  on her phone, that she could not have us. The sister missionaries were suppose to confirm it and thought they had an affirmative, yes. Therefore, since they had another name to look for they asked us to help them find a referral address that was in the same neighborhood. We willingly agreed. We looked and looked for the right house number. Finally George stopped the car and got out to walk with the two sister missionaries as it was now dark. They met a lady cleaning her windows and talked to her and then her daughter came out side. George is the "great" open your mouth person and asked her if she would like to hear a message. She said yes, and her younger sister also joined in. They live in a very LOVELY home. Plus It was a lovely lesson and the GOLD PLATES we made  and had to show were the hit of the night. The two girls touched them and handled them and said :"You mean this book came from plates like this" in Spanish. we have another appointment next Monday, well have to see what happens next.

No photo

STORY 204  OUR CHURCH MISSIONARY STATISTICS    George and I compiled these from past 4 years of April Conference Reports 2012-2015 that were published in the MAY issues when Conference Talks were printed, etc.

            Total Church    Our Church  No. of  Church  Antofagasta     No. of     Full Time    
YEAR  Membership     Ward Baps    Convert Baps  Misson Baps  Missions  Missionaries

2012       14,782,473      122,273          272,339            1012          347          58,390

2013       15,082,028       115,436         282,945            1049          405           83,035

2014       15,372,337       116,409         296,803              538          406          85,147

2015       15,634,199       114,550         257,402              427          418          74,079

2016        (We will know these statistics  in April of 2017)                          

STORY 205    However, "Statistics"  do not tell everything. If you read in the Book of Mormon II NEPHI Chapter 28  this former PROPHET has a lot to say about how the world will be in  in "OUR DAY" in regards to the different churches and people's attitudes towards religion. We read  what he had to say last night again and it gives some good reasons why missionary work is "harder" and "baptisms" are lower now.  (3rd NEPHI 28)

     (Verse 3) For it shall come to pass in that day that the churches which are built up, and not unto the Lord, when the one shall say unto the other" Behold, I, I am the Lord's' and the other shall say: I am the Lord's' and thus shall  every one say that hath built up churches, and not unto the Lord.
     (Verses 4 to 6) give more on this. Then verse 7 says: "Yea, and there shall be many which shall say" " Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us. (The next verses 7 & 8 add more to this profetic utterance.)
      (Verse 9 says) "Yea and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner "false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark."  Continue reading verse 11 which says "Yea, they have all gone out of the way' they have become corrupted."
      (Verse 12) "Because of pride, and because of false teachers, and false doctrine, their churches have become corrupted, and their churches are lifted up; because of pride they are puffed up. Now you can begin to see what we are dealing with here in Chile, plus there are many, many people who say they are Catholic but do not go to church at all.
      (Verse 27) Yea, wo be unto him that saith: We have received, and we need no more!

       Now perhaps you can see why missionary work is getting harder. But this is all the more reason we need to press forward and do the best we can to proclaim the message and pray that we will be led to the honest in heart.

STORY 206  The about the August  2016 "Liahona" that just arrived to the office. The  article  "Ten Reasons I Love the Book of Mormon"  by someone.
    After reading this your father, George said he would like to make his own list. We hope this coming week our children and grandchildren would discuss this in their families and EMAIL us the reasons they (individually) LOVE the Book of Mormon!!!!

     Your Father's Ten Reasons Why He Loves the Book of Mormon  BECAUSE

1. it is very explicit and very clear how we are suppose to conduct our lives.
2. It is very clear regarding consequences of not keeping commandments & covenants.
3.  In II Nephi 9:41  it talks about the path to heaven is very NARROW but it is in a straight COURSE and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel and he employeth no servant there.
4.It helps me to understand that our trials can be blessings to help us grow.
5.It has become an "anchor" to my faith. I do not have to see the golden plates to know it is true, I know it is true because I have studied it for so many years.
6. It is the physical evidence of the church, that the church is "true" and anyone who will read it, ponder it, and sincerely pray about it can receive a witness that it is true.
7. I love the strength and commitment I feel coming from Nephi, the son of Lehi, to keep the commandments and who said "I know the Lord will give no commandment to the children of men, yet he will prepare a way for them to keep it."
8. I love the historical accounts about the lives of the many great Book of Mormon prophets.
9. I love the promise in the book of Moroni with the promise to all who will read it.
10. I love that it is a 2nd witness that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the very eternal Father in Heaven.

STORY 207  Our First Dinner with two Bolivian Cousins Marcello and Juan Carlos.  ( Monday July 18)     We had met Marcello at Liders a few weeks ago and he helped us handle an exchange (which took 30 minutes)!  We therefore invited him to dinner, and when the evening came, he called and said he wanted to bring a friend too. His friend ended up being his cousin from Bolivia. We found out that they are both from Bolivia. We had a very interesting evening and  to our "surprise" they were both interested in learning more about the church. Both  are single, do not smoke, drink or live with women. Good young men, age 37-38, but neither are married. Marcello works at a Hotel here in Antofagasta, and Juan Carlos (his cousin) is not working yet as he just arrived to visit his cousin and  will probably stay for a couple of months. He has been back to our home now three times. He is also going to INSTITUTE tonight at 8 pm, and  met the two young missionaries who introduced him. He is coming to lunch tomorrow so we can give more on Juan Carlos next week. His cousin Marcello is a real live wire "hoot!"

We invited two cousins from Bolivia to our home for dinner.  They were really hungry and ate all of the food we fixed.  They were really fun and we are now teaching them the Gospel.  They are both Catholic.  This was a selfie by Marcelo Chavez in he bottom left.  Juan Carlos Chavez is between Margaret and I.  We have now met with him 3 times.

STORY 208  Reading the Liahona in Spanish every Day We Can.  (or 30 Minutes)   We just read the article in the AUGUST Liahona of the Lost Scriptures. We thought it would be about Joseph Smith's Lost 116 pages, but it was Elder Cooks  (not the apostle Elder Cook) lost scriptures. You would enjoy reading it. I hope it is also in the AUGUST Ensign.

No photo.

STORY 209 Our Home Evening Night with Two Leyton Family Members.  (Wed. July 20)  You may not remember,  but Javier is a member, but not always active, age 25, but has never wanted to receive the priesthood, therefore he is only a baptized member. We went to their home because his older sister (not married) Diana called and invited us but said "We (meaning the other family members) do not want to read your book!" But she invited us over for supper.  While there (only three of the family were there), she confirmed this statement again to us that the family did not want us teaching about  the B of M to them any more. However, Javier is still a member. So we plan to home teach him once a month for the next four months while we are still in Antofagasta. George took his photo  of him holding the gold plates and the Book of Mormon, that we took but did not discuss.

We stopped in to see Javier Leyton.  He is a member of the church, but only semi-active.  We taught him about the Book of Mormon.  His family are not members and recently informed us that they are not interested in learning about the church.

This is our Book of Mormon scripture display in our home.  It is amazing the effect on members and non- members when they see what the Gold Plates looked like.

 The elders in the office were having a planning meeting over lunch in the office.

 Juan Carlos came to our home again for lunch.  We had a very nice long gospel discussion.  He has a lot of questions, as he is hearing so many things that are new to him.

STORY 210 My Birthday Flowers are still Holding Up.  Lisa Talbot told me to cut the stems and they would continue giving forth their beauty. George took this last photo for me. They have been so very wonderful and such nice flowers. Thanks again for remembering me this way on my July 6th birthday. It is now TWO weeks later! You all should be impressed with Chilean florists and how well the flowers held up!

STORY 211  Photo of the New President and his Wife.  President Ferreira and his wife Jaqueeli. They have been simply wonderful!   This past week  we learned that Nancy Fawcett Wilcock (your cousin, daug. of your Aunt Viola and Uncle Afton), taking about the son of Raylinda (her daughter), who married a Hirschi,  this young man just got called to this Antofagasta, Chile Mission. He will be Elder Hirschi, and may arrive just after we come home. He will love this new president and his wife, who are both from Conception, Chile. He is a former Area Seventy, and his favorite words are "Excellente" and "Fabuloso."  Also Marion Bentley's granddaughter who early this past year jreturned from a mission to France, married a young man with the surname of Montgomery. They  called and told us that this groom's brother has been called to this mission.  Elder Montgomery will arrive in 10 days to our mission.  He is coming from Mexico where he has completed his 6 to 8 weeks of training.

A close up picture of our new Mission President David Hernan Ferreira and his wife Jaqueeli.  He is David's age and served in the Cordova, Argentina mission a few years after Bryan.  They are lovely people and have really changed the mission in a positive way.

STORY 212   Large Tree of Life Copy Etching - Photo.  This is a copy from a book of a large wall hanging that is here at the office of Lehi and his family standing around the TREE, partaking of the fruit. It is a wonderful  art piece, and we love looking at it each day when at the office. This photo does not do it justice.

This copper art piece of the tree of life is hanging in the office area.  Mom loves this copper piece of the tree of life.

STORY 213   President's Wife's Birthday Dinner July 21.  This took place today. We sent Amy several photos and she can choose which ones she uses. The office staff and APs were invited to a dinner. George and I were asked to go and purchase a cake. The bakery we went to had double significance as after talking to the clerk, she wanted to learn more about the church. She is a 24 year old law student, who works at the bakery to pay for her schooling. We will not meet with her until the first week of August.  The DINNER was very lovely and we had a very nice "beef steak" meal, that was very Chilean. The meat was cooked in a big cooker with (onion, green pepper, carrot slices and spices) and those juices ran down into the meat. They do things so different than we do in the states.  Twelve at the table and five small bowls with - green beans, corn, lettuce, tomatoes, celery, and you take a little of each, and then had "potato balls" the size of large marbles, small rolls, ice cream, flaun, and the brownie-cheese cake we purchased for the President. Quite a meal! Their daughter is in one of the photos.
Hermana Ferreira's birthday celebration with the office staff

Gina Ferreira, daughter, getting ready to serve empanadas.

Several birthday dinner Photos -

FINAL REMARKS
      We are still working at the office as the "volunteer couple" is in the United States until Aug. 1. Then after  they return and another week of training, they will do more of our jobs, and we will only stop in the office to check on things, etc. Lots and lots of changes with this new president's leadership and all of them are good
.
     We appreciate your prayers and prayers for our investigators. We do not have a good track record as after MUCH MUCH work over many months, we have a long list of "Drop Outs!" :  Hugo age 40, Alfred (separated from his wife) and 2 sons, the Leyton family mom, dad, and two older children, Raul and wife, Marcello age 40, another Raul age 50, and a few others not listed. We hope we can find the TRUE in HEART (Juan Carolos and Marcello may be receptive), but all we can do is to keep doing our best, and putting forth our best effort, to proclaim the Gospel message. It is up to each individual to accept or reject. Like we read in II Nephi chapter 28, times are getting harder and harder to do with people and religion. We are SO pleased Jennah is working on turning in her papers soon, to join the World Wide army of missionaries!

Love Mom and Dad

PS  We love your EMAILS. And DO send us your reasons WHY you LOVE the BOOK of MORMON!

Goodbye to the Lawson's

FOR OUR DEAR FAMILY,    Sent Wednesday July 13, 2016 from Antofagasta, Chile

       We truly appreciate the emails and email photos we have received this past week: 1) from Laura about her family trip to California,2)  from Julie about Jennah's preparations to attend BYU Idaho,  3) from Stephanie about her boys and her gardening, 4)  from David's family about Dayton's $100 tip,  5) from Merrill about his children and son Ethan going to the Sacred Grove in New York, 6) from Jonathan about now having only 3 children at home,  7) from Amy about her move and finding things in boxes such as the silverware we gave her for her wedding, and from 8) from our new missionary Hannah about her 2nd great week at the MTC, and from our California missionary Dallin about his mission experiences, plus having a nice phone visit with our son Bryan and his wife Lisa.

       We do try to keep on top of the emails and answer something to those who send us their news. We wish we had more time to CALL our children in the evenings (now our phone is working) or better yet to SKYPE, but we are very busy and this mission is now closing in on us, so hope you will all understand. We are SO glad we now have a phone and have had conversations with all of our children.  Even though we don't have a ton of time to talk we treasure every minute that we can talk to our children. My sister Elaine sent an email and said a boy from their ward has just been called to the Antofagasta Chile Mission and our good friend Marion Bentley said his granddaughter's husband's brother will be arriving here to this mission in the near future.

 PLUS ------ THANK YOU ALL  AGAIN  For the Birthday Flowers and Chocolates  (arrived July 7, 2016) wonderfully fresh flowers.    Now it is July 13 (7 days later) and in the evenings and they are still giving us joy and happiness. We keep them in a dark room while we are at the office so they will last longer, over being out in the light, all day when we are gone. We get many compliments on them from people who come to our apartment.


Photo of the flowers top down
Photo of the box of chocolates we shared with office elders and the Lawsons.

STORY  189  Happy Birthday to Elder Roberts from the Office  (Friday July 8th)  One of the office elders told us it was Elder Roberts' birthday. We went and bought some ice cream and celebrated with him later in the day. He is a very modest young man from MANTI, Utah and plays the piano quite well. He said his mother started him on the piano when he was age 6.  He is George's assistant and is being trained by Elder Walker (past assistant) who will be leaving in less than 3 weeks to go back in the field.

Photo at the office, with the elders celebrating with us, Elder Robert's birthday.

Elder Roberts birthday.  We purchased cookies and Ice Cream for the Office Party.

STORY 190  The Sisters Missionary Discussion with Our Contact  (Friday pm) July 8th)  This was a real evening to not forget.  Isabella is the mother of Pricilla who is the wife of Jordan who is a baptized inactive member. Pricilla and Jordan live only 2 short blocks from our apartment and we pass by their home every day. The last time we went to the home Pricilla's mother was there and we asked her if she would like to know more about the church. She was agreeable and invited us to come to her home. We contacted the two sister missionaries who then made the appointment, we got permission to use the car and picked them up along with another ward member. This home was (nice) but WAY WAY North of where we live. We entered the home and the 90 year old mother was on the couch, a another son (brother to Isabella), then came Isabella husband, and later another brother and his wife knocked on the door and became part of the conversation. After getting acquainted the sister missionaries gave a  lovely restoration lesson (in Spanish of course) and those present were very interested, but then the other son and wife knocked on the door and entered, and they were very antagonistic, and negative.  It all ended with me asking the mother (age 90) if she had a family history of her life. The children said NO and they were interested in having me come back and bring materials to get this started.  We have no idea at this point where this will all go. But we  got the contact, and did our best to support the two sister missionaries (one of whom was from Grantsville, Utah). This will have to be a continued story. The 90 year old woman's husband father of the 8 children died at age 105.

Photo  with two sister missionaries with all of the people in that room.
Margaret made a hit with the lady in red and she invited us to her home with the missionaries.  The missionaries are the three Hermanas on the right.  The couple to the left showed up and ares Seventh Day Adventists and caused some problems at the meeting.  The others were very interested until they showed up.

STORY 191  Claudio and two Daughters for Lunch (Sat July 9)   This is the family we first met way last July of 2015, in Liders (Walmart) in Chile. We have maintained contact over the months and Claudio did come to church once (Sacrament meeting) and to a Christmas social. But it is very hard for someone who has had NO religion in their life to want to get into religion. But we have not given up. He has one daug. (Francisca) by one woman, and (Gabriela) by another woman, but not married to either of them. They are the joy of his life. George Francisca a Book of Mormon and she promised to read it. She is age 20. She is studying Dance in Santiago and returned on Monday.

Photo  of Claudio and 2 daughters Francisca ( age 20) and Gabriella (age 8)
We invited Claudio and his two daughters to lunch with us. 

 Photo Francisca and her necklace purchased in Santiago
Claudio's daughter Francisca.  Margaret wanted me to take a picture of her necklace.

STORY 192 (Same Family) Gifts from Brazil, Taking over 2 Meals,l and Rodolfos Sprained Ankle:

      (Friday PM July 8 pm)  We stopped by last Friday PM to say hello to Martha who had just returned from BRAZIL and gave her some rolls, but told us to wait in the car and she went and brought us some things from her recent trip home to her parents place in Brazil 1) a lovely soap container to put in a drawer, 2) a box of Brazilian candy, 3) a lovely dish towel with embroidery, and 4) a kitchen dress deal that you put plastic bags in.

Photo  Of these gifts given to us from Brazil from Marta and Rodolfo.

 Marta, Rodolfo's wife, went to Brazil to see her family.  She brought back to Margaret these gifts from Brazil.  Very thoughtful people.

     (Sunday PM July 10 pm) Then we took dinner over to them on Sunday (as we still had use of the car) and were  so surprised to find out Rodolfo had a bad sprain (obtained from slipping on a rock while fishing).  George gave him a blessing, plus we called Norman and got more instructions for him.

     (Tuesday PM July 12) Then we took dinner over againTuesday evening walking both ways (3/4s of a mile each way) to deliver it, and gave Rodolfo (who is now wearing a boot on his lower leg) a Spanish Reading lesson of Scriptures we had printed to go with the "visuals" for his young son from the New Testament to do with Christ healing people. We always make it a point to make sure to have a message to give anytime we go anywhere. Please get the right idea, our meals and visits are NOT just social visits. We make sure we leave a "spiritual message somehow."

STORY 193  Ideide and Two Children for Supper (Saturday) This is the family where the mother is the sister to the other girl (Cleyde) who was baptized. We feel impressed to not drop this family but to keep working with them and hope they will change their mind (back) to where they started being very interested, but then said  (the mother) that they wanted to go to her Catholic church. I had prepared another HOME EVENING lesson to do with them. It was a real HIT.  The children loved the paper cardboard figures of David and Golieth.

Photo of children playing with the David and Golieth cut outs that I made.

Ideide and her children came for dinner and another family home evening.
Her children, Daniel and Pascal love to come to our home and play games.

 Margaret prepared some family home evening for some of our investigators.  She has really interested the children of some families.  She is very good at it.

STORY 194  Making More Cut Out Figures for Home Evenings  (Tuesday)  We have searched through old Liahona magazines trying to find the "children's sections" and make color copies of the stories from the Old Testament and New Testament that have figures of people doing thing. (see photo)  We will be using them at Home Evening discussions and they have proved to be a real hit with the families we have tried them out on.We took these over to Rodolfo to use with his son Goga age 4. Rodolfo read both stories in English from the Bible and we had a good English lesson with him telling him what the words meant like Thy, Thou, etc. (Bible language in English).-  Used to tell two stories - Healing a leper and Healing Peter's mother in law.

Photos of Liahona magazine Bible New Testament cutouts  of Jesus Healing people

STORY 195  Learning Hymns in Spanish  (Sunday) My goal is to memorize 10 Hymns in Spanish before we leave to go home. I also worked on playing the songs I get out of the children's section of the Lliahona,  to sing and play them  on Ukulele when we have Home Evening "Hogan de  familie. Then use them at the Home Evening Lessons.The Chilean families like these as they do not sing these kinds of songs. We feel the songs are helping us teach the gospel.

Photo of the Hymns we are using for Home evenings.

STORY 196  Using the Presidents Car to Make Sunday (July 10) Home Visits  This was a real treat for us as we have not had access to a car for several months to do this, under the old leadership, but the new president was very cordial and anxious to have us go to see our investigators. Since he took the VAN to the North and left his car we were driving it. On Sunday we made all of these visits.

     CAR STOP 1) Carolina, Alexander and two children SOL and ALUNA. Sol is the girl who has been emailing our granddaughter Madison. It was a brief unannounced stop but a start.

      CAR STOP 2) Stopped at the two sister missionaries apartment to deliver a package, and to look through their old "Liahona Magazines" to find more children section story figures.

       CAR STOP 3) Stopped at Wilson and Idede and visited. They returned the PINA NUTS that we showed last week as we now have a bigger "cash" of them for George as he likes them ...more than I do. They will come again for another HOME EVENING on this coming Sat.

         CAR STOP 4) Stopped at Roberts's and met his Aunt and they also had a grain drink and cake for us. Hopefully the Aunt age 83 will want the lessons. Robert is (semi active) and he SANG for us. See photos of him and his guitar. His Aunt is a sister to his mother's mother. She is six years older than George. We have sent her many packages of cookies to try to get to meet her. We would take packages of cookies to church and gave them to Robert, who would then give them to his Aunt. Now, she said she would listen to the missionaries. We will be calling her the "Cookie Aunt."This really was a historic event to finally meet here!  However, we still have to call Robert on the phone on Saturdays to tell him we will meet him at church. He is a baptized member, but he is not as faithful as we would like to have him be. Photo is in his new apartment provided by his mother (who is quite wealthy) but not a member of the church. He invited us to come and see his apartment and to (FINALLY) get to meet his Aunt.

Photo Robert Sherino playing his guitar
Robert Cherino playing his guitar for us at his home.  We have been trying to keep him coming to church.  He loves to please Margaret.

Photo of his Great Aunt Georgina (sister to his grandmother)
Robert Cherinos great Aunt, who he lives with.  She would not anything to do with the young missionaries, but she loved Margaret.  They have invited us back.  She is 83.

         CAR STOP 5) Took the dinner over to Marta and Rodolfo and found out about the sprained ankle. After returning home  we called and talked to Norman about this ankle problem as we didn't feel the "hospital emergency had given him enough information." Norman is always so willing to help family members with their medical needs and we appreciated his advice. We can write that later for any one so interested.

Photo of Rodolfo's sprained ankle that we sent on to Dr. Norman.
Rodolfo went fishing and sprained his ankle quite badly.  He and his wife asked for a blessing.  We wish we could get these wonderful people converted.


             This was a LONG LONG sabbath day, but we did a lot of good. 'We hope!"

STORY 197  Our Big Discussion with Jose  (Monday July 11)   This is our adopted Chilean (grandson) who comes to supper at our apartment every Monday at 6:30.  We got real brave and simply told him how much we care about him and that our message is something that "we hope he would take very seriously." We had a BIG and LONG in depth discussion that lasted almost 1 and a half hours. He told us he thinks he is an "agnostic." This is the first time he has used this word. Last week it was that he didn't have any "faith."  We listed to all he had to tell us and it was things we had truly not heard before about his beliefs, nor heard from anyone for that matter.  Of course we had things to say too. But he is WAY off track!  We finally told him how much we care about him and hoped he would give us just (30) days of his life where he would truly take serious our past discussions, read the Book of Mormon, and simply give himself a chance to let our message sink deep into his heart.  He will let us know in the coming weeks his decision.

No Photos

STORY 198   Stories and Trivia About Serving in an Office      Serving in a mission office is a unique experience. It is hard to imagine anyone who would want to work at a place that had a NEW boss every three years, then you were CHANGING employees who are doing key jobs for 5 to 6 months and then leave,  they have to train someone new to take over their job, you run many many errands in a car, paying bills, doing shopping, preparing meals, doing clean up,  handling the finances, reimbursements to missionaries, monthly money for 190 missionaries, entering the weekly baptisms, dealing with the magazines and incoming mail. This is the LIFE of (this) senior couple and maybe many others who are serving in a mission office.

Photo  Current office elders standing with George in the "Big Room"  (old chapel area)
 (L to R) Elder Walker, Elder Roberts, (George), Elder Prada, Elder Huffstutler. (See Whip Story 200.
STORY  199   One of Our Favorite Elders    Elder Huffstutler who is from Alabama and has been the Commisary Secretary at the office is one of the kindest elders we have had yet. No matter what we ask him to do for us he stops what he is doing and comes to our aid. He is also very polite. Other favorite elders who are not longer working in the office were Elder Spanbaur, who is not longer working in the office, Elder Morales who is a Chilean and lives in Conception, and Elder Hart who was an AP is from a small town in Texas. The girls who in the end get these young men will be very lucky.
The Office Elders from RIght to Left - Elder Walker from St. George, Elder Roberts from Manti Me, Elder Huffstutler from Alabama having a vision and Elder Prada from Columbia.

STORY 200   Elder Huffstutler (from Alabama) his "Home Made Whip"  This elder had his mother send his "whip" that he made when he was at home, made from heavy twine and bee bees (spelled wrong) and it really cracks. During a  lunch break he likes to take it in the big  room  area and it really make a loud cracking sound. It must re-leave tension! George trys to do it but he is not as good at it as Elder Huffstutler.  He said he could make one in two days. We may pay him to make us one when he gets home. It is really something. He has been a really nice young elder to work with. He will really be missed when he goes back out into the field.


Elder Huffstutler Is from Alabama and lives in the country.  He had his mother send him his whip.

See the VIDEO of this Elders "WHIP CRACKING"  (Hope  comes through) Let us know!
See photo of this office Elder with his whip.

STORY 201 Evening Meal with the Lawsons at our Apartment  (Wed July 13)  They leave to go to the airport tomorrow to fly to Santiago. They have been serving their mission up in Alto Hospicio which is above Iquique and are the couple who has taken us in their car on two different "Excursions" while we have been here in Chile. They are four months ahead of us and this is now the end of their 18 months. They drove to the office, left their luggage till tomorrow, and we came over to our apartment for a nice dinner together. Then they went to the mission home to spend their last night. Tomorrow, we will be driving them to the airport.  They will stay two days there, attend a temple session and then fly to Cordoba, Argentina to visit people from their first couple mission and then they will return to Santiago, and fly home on July 19th.

Photo  Doug and Nancy Lawson
Elder Doug and Hermana Lawson came to our home for dinner tonight.  They have completed their mission and leave tomorrow for Santiago, then Argentina for a few days and then back home to Colorado.  We have really enjoyed them and will miss them.

 Another picture of the Lawsons Margaret.  They have been good friends, but lived six hours from us so we did not get to see them too often, but did talk to them on the telephone.

Photo Dougn, Nancy and (Margaret) in our living room after the meal.

FINAL COMMENTS sent  July 13, 2016 (Wednesday) 9:45 PM

          We realize that our Talbottestimony BLOG may not be thought to be as "Spiritual as our  missionary grandchildren's emails -  Hunter, Spencer, Dallin, and Hannah's" . We think family members may not think we tell enough on the "miracles" and "special spiritual experiences", but we come in an entirely different door of missionary work than the young sisters and elders. Plus we work EIGHT hours in an office each day from (9:30 to 5:30).which also includes walking back and forth. Therefore, we only have  our weekday evenings and our weekends to do missionary work. We rarely ever - even have a PDAY (Saturday) as we do our laundry and house keeping chores when ever we can, so we can go visit and work with investigators on Saturday which is our PDAY. Actually we do NOT remember "hardly ever" even having a real PDAY except for the two out of town excursions that we took and the one trip to Paranal.  Our spiritual experiences fall more into the category of "Listening for the workings of the Spirit"  which helps us know "What to do" and "What to say" when meeting people;  or Working with the young missionaries at the office", or "Working with "Our Investigators" either at our apartment or at their homes.  Therefore, we just keep giving our all even at our ages of 74 and 76, plus doing our best to learn the language.  We know this opportunity to serve in this way will not be this way when we go home. We do hope you enjoy  the photos and stories that we send, that sometimes are to just give you information about Chile or this time Brazil.

                    Love to All of You, and that means Every One of You.

                                                   Mom and Dad

PS  The big surprise for us! We will tell about in next weeks news we sent!  STORY 202.

New Mission President Arrives

Dear Children, Spouses and Families    July 8, 2016   9 am  Antofagasta, Chile

        The birthday flowers in a vase in our living room area are so beautiful. I wish I could FREEZE them in time, and have them last for the next four and a half months. The four roses are particularly beautiful. Thank you, thank you, thank you!  We miss all of you and enjoyed being able to talk with each one of our children either on my birthday or the day following. It was just short of a miracle that the phone had now started working just a week prior!  It was so good to hear your voices and catch up on the news from each of your homes and all that is going on in each of your lives in brief:  the move (Amy),  gardens (Stephanie), paw paw trees (Bryan),  trip to San Francisco (Laura), two children went to Kirtland (Merrill), he talked to Jose (David),  finding card games (Julie), scout camp out with Nathan (Jonathan). It was a wonderful evening to remember for many days since.   The 24 Photos  George took and sent are now listed following the story they go with to make it easier for Amy. We thank her again for posting them on the blog.

STORY 178  Preparations for the Arrival of New President (Wed June 29)
Photo 1. Table set that we took back down as dinner time changed

    We got the instructions we were having the dinner on Wednesday at 1 pm and then we learned the flight did not come in until 10 pm that night, so we had to take the tables down that we had set for the dinner to fix the large room for the big meeting where two of the zones would be coming to meet the president.

We had the table all set for lunch to welcome the new president, who was to arrive at 10:30 a.m.  There was a mix up on the time and it was actually 10:30 p.m. So we had it 2 days later

STORY 180  Retiring Pres. and Wife Leave, but not without problems.(Wed pm-no photo)

    The two APs were the ones assigned to drive the former president and his wife to the bus station Wed. evening as they are touring several other countries before they fly home. The APs told us they drove their car to the office to leave for the new president and then got in the other office van to have the APs (one of them) drive them to the bus station. Their bus would leave at 7 pm. But upon getting on the main road to the bus station a water line had broke and the traffic was all backed up. They waited and waited and finally finally got through it all. When all were "running" to the place where they would hope the bus had not left one of the APs dropped the house keys (that the president had just given him) to give to the new president for the mission home. They did make the bus (barely) but the APs could not find the keys one of them dropped when they returned to the van!

STORY 179  Leadership Council meeting, the New President (Thur June 30)
Photos
2. Hermanas gathered for leadership meeting and meeting new President
3. Elders gathered for leadership meeting and meet new President
4, The New President, his wife and their daughter (one of 4 children) others are older
5. Two or three Hermanas standing with the president
6. George and Margaret standing with the new president and wife

     The first Thursday of each month is the Leadership Council meeting where all of the Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, come in on buses from all over the mission to attend a meeting where they receive instructions to take back to their zones and also to pick up the mail to take back to the missionaries. This was ALL of our first time to meet this new president as he had arrived at 10 pm the night before.

The President arrived and the Hermanas were posing for a picture together.

The Elders also posed together for a picture.

President Ferreira, his daughter Gina and his wife.

President and Hermana Ferreira with three Hermanas

Margaret and I with the New Mission President and his wife.  He served in the Cordova, Argentina Mission a year or two after Bryan.

STORY 180  Accidents do Happen to Missionaries, but this was a bad one.
7. Margaret and Hermana Carabine who cut her face 26 stitches walked into a glass door
8. Both of us with Elder Erackenback who is going home soon.

    We saw this sister missionary who is a sister trainer leader, but did not realize the reason for the bandage on her lower jaw. Come to find out she had walked into the glass door in her apartment and crashed through it and had to have 26 stitches. It was cut badly. Fortunately she got to the hospital and a very fine Chilean plastic surgeon worked on her face. When I was a little girl my mother had a friend who came to see us the "Carabine" family when we lived in St. George. I always remember them. I have often wondered if this young sister missionary is a great granddaughter of the Carabines we knew years ago.  She had a really good attitude about it all and said she was blest that it would not leave a scar.

Margaret and Hermana Carabine.  She walked through a glass door and cut her chin and had to have 24 stitches.

Margaret and I with Elder Ercanbrack who will soon be going home.

STORY 181  Dinner we Prepared for New President, Wife, Daug, Office Staff (Fri July 1)
9. Office staff and APs sitting around table for new president and his wife.
10. One of Margaret and Elder Huffstuttler from Alabama (Office Commissary)

   We worked hard to prepare a lovely dinner and it turned out really well. We had chicken breasts, a rice mixture, different plates of tomatoes, onions, avacado mix, etc., juice drinks, rolls, and ice cream and brownies for desert. Everyone love it.  George got raves on the meat as he had soaked it in his usual brew, before I cooked it.

We finally had the luncheon.  Left and around Joes Marquez and his wife Meriela, Elder Anderson, Elder Santos, Hermana Ferreira, President Ferreira and his Daughter Gina, My empty chair and then Margaret, Elder Huffstutler, Elder Walker, Elder Prada and Elder Roberts.

Margaret enjoying the lunch that she prepared for everyone.  She is always doing service.

STORY 182  A Flock of Chilean Turkey Vultures
11. Photo of the "turkey vultures" on top of 2nd pillar of our building after an event

    We live on the 20th floor of this apartment building that had two TWIN towers, a north and south tower. We live in the south tower.  When they have events on the top of the North tower the next day the "turkey vultures" come to pick up the remains of food that may be on the floor or in the trash cans. On this particular morning there were many, many vultures. Hope you enjoy the photo!

Mom got all excited about all of the turkey vultures sitting on our building.  We must be getting ready to go.

They were also circling overhead.

STORY 183     A Home Visit Results in Mother Wanting Lessons (Sat July 2)
12. Photo of Pricilla and Phillamina Isabella and Margaret at a home visit.

     We have this family that lives in a lovely home (they have rebuilt) that we walk by on our way to the office. The father is a member (joined at age 8) with his mother and brother, but now all are in active. Our church office space is where the mother of Jordan used to go to church, but when they combined (wards) and closed this church it is common for some of the families to quit the church. Jordan the husband has not been active for many years. We stopped by and the wife's mother was there too. We had a nice visit and talked about the church and had them read articles from the Liahona to us (plus let the children read). The mother of Pricilla now wanted to have the missionaries come to her home. We will be going there tonight. More on this next week!

Priscilla, Margaret and Filimina.  They belong to the 7th Adventist Church,  We keep working at missionary work, but it is slow and hard to get people to be interested.

STIORY 184  A Snow Ball Fight in the Gym "Missionary Activity Night" (Sat July 2)
13. Picture of the"snow ball fight" remains from a missionary activity
14. Nicholas is returning to Japan after an illness with his grandmother & Aunt

          The office missionaries planned a missionary activity for families they are trying to re activate in their barrio (ward) so we went to the Quito Barrio to support them. It was the first time we have ever seen a "snow ball fight" using wet paper pages wadded up and when they dry they are really hard so you can throw them. They laid down a volley ball net on the floor as the diving line, passed out the paper snow balls and if you got hit you were out. George was a "good thrower" and had one of the missionaries really dancing back and forth to miss his throws. Then the word got out that George was a former "baseball pitcher."  It was a fun activity. The new mission president and his wife came later, but missed the snow ball throwing activity. Adriana was there too waiting for the setting apart of her sister's grandson Nicholas who was going to return back to Japan the next day following being home in Antofagasta for the past six months. George also took their photo. Nicholas now speaks four languages, Spanish, English, some Portuguese and then Japanese. He is an ONLY child and very loved and doted on by his family members. He was so surprised to be sent to Japan.

The missionaries prepared an activity night for investigators and inactive members.  It was non-Christmas party.  We had a snowball fight with wadded up paper.

Maria, her grandson Eric and Adrianna,  He is returning to Jaan for his mission.  He came home temporarily for health reasons.

STORY 185  Three Zones Together for Dinner and Interviews  (Mon Jul 4)
15. Food table we prepared for the Zone Conference meeting 65 people attended.
16. Missionaries at the buffet table getting their food
17. Trying to get a photo together for all of these missionaries (not final photo)

     This was the biggest (largest number of people served) we have done since we arrived. The office elders did the shopping and pre preparations, but I left the meeting and set up all of the buffet table, and George and I did all of the clean up. It turned out really nice and we had such a good feeling that we can be of such a big help to feed this many missionaries, etc. The missionaries from Calama were bused down and that is why it was a bigger number, and then the new president did interviews to meet each of them. This PRESIDENT served in the same mission as Bryan (Cordoba and Salta) when he was younger, but served 2 or 3 years following when Bryan served.
The food table we had set up for the missionaries.

It didn't the missionaries very long to find the food.

STORY 186  Our Discussion on Faith with Jose  "He said he didn't have faith" (Mon)
18. Jose who comes to our home each month (following a "I don't have faith" discussion
19. Jose and his motocycle he just purchased. Licence plates stay from old person.

Jose with his new motorcycle

STORY 187  Uncle Afton's 88th Birthday in Hurrican, Utah (Tue)  (no photo)                   Phone number you can call  435 635 2980 (home phone)   George called his sister Viola's husband (Afton Fawcett) for his birthday. Hard to believe he turned 88. George's father Reed Talbot died at age 89 in January of that year, but would have been 90 in June had he lived.  George said when Viola married him, his parents were worried as Afton was often sick and they wondered how long he would live. However, he has lived a long long time. They had a nice visit. Viola  also commented to George on how much she appreciated a phone call from  our daughter Julie, several months ago. IF any of you have a minute and can call your Uncle Afton he would surely enjoy hearing from you. These Aunts and Uncles do not last forever on this earth.

STORY  187  Things we see, not very often (Wind from the East coming from Mountains)
20. Chilean flag in full size floating in the wind
21. Columbian stuffed potato lunch George purchased with Elder Prada (A Columbian)

The Chilean flag is huge and is on a pole we can see out of our living area sliding glass door. It rarely blows so it is going towards the ocean. Hope you enjoy the photo. The Columbian stuffed potato lunch George purchased when he was out running errands with Elder Prada (from Columbia) was good, but I would not go to all of that trouble to make it. It had an inside of rice, peas, boiled egg white cut in half white only, then rolled in mashed potatoes and then deep fried or baked. Maybe Jonathan, Bryan or David remember eating something like this. Each country seems to have the things they like and eat very often. Empanatas are the BIG thing for Chile.

There is a huge flag on the Costanera highway.  Usually it draped down.  We had high winds that kept the flag straight out one morning.  Margaret wanted me to take a picture.

We tried come Columbian food today.  It is a stuffed potato.  Filled with rice, chicken a boiled egg etc.  It was pretty good.  Margaret teased me that this was her birthday dinner.

   It  has been COLDER this winter (remember we are in winter here) this year over last year. we actually need our jackets. However, I would not have needed to have purchased a coat to bring, which I did bring. One morning the WIND was blowing so strong that the city flag pole flag was sticking straight out. George took a photo from our 20th floor window. We will really miss the "sea breeze and the flag pole" when we return home. We have a wonderful view of the ocean and the people here LOVE their ocean just like we love our MOUNTAINS.  George went to the Chile express office with a Columbian office missionary and he had him buy this "lunch" item so common in Columbia. It was a round crusted thing (heavy) and when cut inside it was filled with rice, a few green peas, the white part of a boiled egg, and flavorings, with it then being rolled in a potato paste and then deep fried.  Unusual, but filling!

STORY 188  74th Birthday  July 6, 2016 Phone Calls, Flowers&Chocolates (Wed) (Thur)
22. Margaret's flowers arrived to the office, posed with delivery man!
23. Anna Maria & Adriana (sisters) who came to our apartment to celebrate M.s birthday
24. Photo of the TOP of the flowers looking down
25. Photo of the vase of flowers on the table.

    Thank you all again for thinking of me on my 74th birthday. The flowers are SO beautiful.  can hardly believe I am this old. I do not like getting older each year. I wish I was 50 again. But no such luck. I hope you all enjoy the ages you are right now as they do not last. Adrianna wanted to come to our home "on" my birthday but we had her come the day after, she and her sister. They brought me a gift too. They are a real "hoot" and we will miss them a lot. They are the same sisters who decorated their house at last years Christmas time. We had them READ the new Liahona magazine articles for us and they enjoyed them (in Spanish) and we followed along in English (we had copies of both). They enjoyed the article about missionaries who return home early due to illness or other problems. Their grandson just returned back to Japan. Rule is if you have reached 18 months when you are sick or have a problem, you do not return and they call it an 18 month mission. If earlier they do have you return.

Adriana and her sister Maria.  We had them over for dinner.  Both are members, but Adriana was only baptized one year ago.

Adriana and Maria acting up for the picture.

Birthday flowers now in our apartment.  They look beautiful, don't you think?

 
FINAL WORDS  Well another week passed by.  We study Spanish every chance we get and I am working to learn 100 Verbs by the end of next week. I know I can do it 16 a day for 7 days. I learn them but then cannot recall them when I need to use them. It is a constant battle learning a second language.  I HOPE our families where someone speaks Spanish they will at least once a week PRAY with their children speaking Spanish. I so enjoyed the article about the newest apostle Elder Renlund who came from SWEDEN. I also enjoyed reading how the Renlund family made "SCRIPTURES" a biog priority with the four children. It also talks about how the family  always prayed and talked  in Swedish in the home when he was growing up. I hope you all read this article. My father's mother Charlotte, her parents were from Sweden and joined the church in Sweden, came to America in around 1860. I love know my heritage goes back to Sweden. We so appreciate your prayers and your prayers for our investigators. We pray for each of you too.

Much Love,  Mom and Dad